Upgrading to an SSD

[Beezerk]

After a bit of advice, my laptop (well work laptop) has been running slower for the last few months and getting worse it seems.
Is it worth upgrading the HD to an SSD, and if so what do I need to do this so I essentially have a mirror of what I currently have on my pc?
I used the Crucial tool and found out what SSD I can get but I'm stuck as to what I need to clone it.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

There will be proper bods along soon but we did this with our 4yr old laptop around a year ago. We would turn it on, make a cuppa and it would still not be up and running. Now it is ready to go in about 10-15 seconds, works much quicker all round. Definitely worth it.

We just gave it to a proper man, he transferred everything for us. It really didn't cost much. Do you not have a local computer shop, independent with proper geeks working there?

 

[fundy]

Fragger your man for this!, Advised me when I did mine and was easier than expected, definitely worthwhile as long as the rest of the laptop isnt past its sell by

 

[GreiginFife]

The Crucial tool is nothing but a clever marketing ploy.
You can use any SATA SSD as the interfaces are exactly the same. Depending on capacity, SATA SSDs start from about £20 these days for 120Gb.

The swap out is easy if your current HDD is accessible. Unscrew the cage that its held in with, unscrew the drive from the cage, not the orientation of the interface and then screw the new SSD back in the same way, then reverse the removal procedure.

You can get several cloning tools, personally I use EaseUS ToDo. You just create the clone from your current machine. There are several guides on line for this.

However, it's not always straight forward depending on the age and type of machine as machines running on newer UEFI BIOS (firmware thats like a mini OS for the hardware) sometimes doesn't like cloned drives.

Bear in mind, an SSD will help but the slowness of the machine could be caused by several factors. How full the HDD is, how fragmented the data is, how much RAM you have and its speed, how you use it.

If you use memory heavy apps like chrome (lots ofbtabs open), excel (big data files) then the SSD will speed up boot and transfer times but it won't relaly help with the memory heavy transactional processes.

 

[Beezerk]

Thanks mate, my current HDD is 500Gb and about half full but I'd probably get the same size replacement. I'll check out that software you mentioned as well.
For some reason I thought you needed a caddie to clone the drive but I see you can make a usb boot drive and go from there.

 

[jim8flog]

I use macrium software

they have a free to use version for individuals

one of these makes copying a doddle but of you are in a hurry you might want to search for UK stock

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hard-Disk-Drive-SATA-7-15Pin-22-to-USB-2-0-Adapter-Cable-For-2-5-HDD-Laptop-UK/192382264082?hash=item2ccae06312:g:YxEAAOSwmwtaIQLB


Do a bit of research on SSD drives if speed is important, the pricier ones are generally because they are faster.

One thing to add is it worth seeing if the motherboard can take a M2 SSD

 

[Beezerk]

Well part 1 done.
On a hunch I opened up an old laptop as I remember upgrading the RAM on it a few years ago, result, the RAM I bought is compatible so I'm now on 8Gb.
Just the SSD to sort now

 

[GreiginFife]

Well part 1 done.
On a hunch I opened up an old laptop as I remember upgrading the RAM on it a few years ago, result, the RAM I bought is compatible so I'm now on 8Gb.
Just the SSD to sort now

Sorry, my reply was a bit rushed this morning. Expanding the RAM is a good move, just ensure the speed standard is the same or it could lead to instabilities (although it might look like it's running fine, even matched DIMM kits can have instabilities).

My advice (and this is personal preference), is not to actually close a drive. Cloning, by it's very nature, creates an identical copy of your OS and system. This means any issues (broken registry items, data mismatches or hidden nasties) are transferred to the new drive and the system sees diminished benefit. I have probably had more problems with cloning client's machines over the years than any other return to base issue.

My personal preference is to back up critical files and applications and then do a clean OS install, especially on a new drive. This gives you a nice clean registry and no lurking issues from the cloning process.

In terms of drive speeds, all SATA drives, regardless of the quality of the silicon are bound by a maximum 600MT/s due to the controller standards rather than the drive "capability". The issue this brings in 'real world' terms is that between a "poor" drive performing at, say, 450MT/s and a "good" drive at 600MT/s, you are highly unlikely to notice the difference in response. As an example, I recently upgraded my NVMe M.2 from 2400MT/s to 3600MT/s and I barely notice any difference, save that Wildlands loads marhinally quicker.

Jim is right, if your laptop has a M.2 slot then you could see better transfer rates from NVMe standard drives. But these are more expensive and the M.2 slot only became used on higher spec laptops about 3 years ago or so.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I recommend Macrium Reflect for this too, I used it to move from a HDD on a late 2009 MacBook to a SSD of twice the size bought in 2018.

I used my PC for this transfer, I have not done it without another computer do the cloning so no idea if it’s possible.

Basically plugged both drives into my PC and cloned old HDD to new SSD.

 

[Beezerk]

The laptop has been running much better since I added the RAM but I've also pulled the trigger on a Crucial MX500 SSD, it seems to be a decent balance between price and performance.
Fingers crossed I don't balls it up

 

[ScienceBoy]

The laptop has been running much better since I added the RAM but I've also pulled the trigger on a Crucial MX500 SSD, it seems to be a decent balance between price and performance.
Fingers crossed I don't balls it up

This is the one I used for the MacBook for photo storage and I have the 1TB as a game drive.

 

[Beezerk]

All fitted, Windows 10 installed and data copied over onto new SSD.
Was a doddle in the end, the only hiccup was the User folder had the incorrect name but I managed to find a fix for that.
It's running like a brand new laptop